Human Companionship
by Autobot Trapjaw
Summary: Wheeljack doesnt want a human friend, but one finds him anyway...
1. Chapter 1

Human Companionship- Prologue  
Transformers Prime  
After 'Triage'/ 'Toxicity'  
_Wheeljack's thoughts  
_**J****amie's thoughts**

* * *

_'If you're staying, you're gonna need your own human.'_

Miko's words still rang in his audio receptors almost two Earth months after she spoke them. Wheeljack motionlessly rested in his ship, the Jackhammer, turning over the words in his helm. Why would he need a human if it would just get in his way? It was the one thing that completely puzzled him about Bulkhead and the others; why did they keep these humans around as if they were pets? He couldn't quite see the benefit of taking one in.

_A human? No... I'd end up losing it, or even killing it. I don't need a human as a pet, especially since having one around wouldn't help me in battle. But then again, Bulk's human, Miko, was pretty cool... No, no. No humans for this Wreker; I work with my Wrecker brothers, or I work alone. _

Wheeljack hated these conversations he had with himself; they always left him indecisive and with more convo topics than answers for the ones he already started. The thought of humans lead him to thinking of Bulkhead, the only other living Wrecker that they knew of. Then Seaspray and the other dead Wreckers flooded his mind. He missed the old crew almost as much as Cybertron itself. _That was the past, 'Jack. Let it go_, he told himself as he fell into a nightmare-consumed recharge of his brethren's deaths.

Jamie came to Jasper about two months before with her sister Maya to live with the uncle and aunt she hardly knew. She was quite 'difficult,' according to the foster parents she and Maya had lived with for the past four years. They had been thrown into the system after her mother left them home one afternoon and never came back. She never knew, or cared to know about, her father.

Because she was the older of the two, Jamie was expected to do everything while her sister, one year younger than her, got everything without even lifting a finger.

**One day, I'm just gonna leave little Miss Angel with those stupid people they say are our family. See how she likes having to do everything. The only place I have to be recognized by anyone is at school, and the only one who does is that kid next to me; Raf, or whatever his name is, **the young girl said, having a nice conversation with herself. How she loved complaining about various topics, but mainly about her horrid sister.

It had been about a week after she left Las Vegas to live here that she started to really hate her sister, and when Raf started to become her one and only friend in Jasper.

* * *

**First TF:P book and first third-person book as well. Let's see how this story turns out... read and review, peeps! Like everyone else, too, I don't own anything but my OCs! I'm OUT!**


	2. Chapter 2

Human Companionship- Chapter 1

Transformers Prime

After 'Triage'/ 'Toxicity'

**Jamie's thoughts**  
_Wheeljack's thoughts_

* * *

The damage from Soundwave was killing him, metaphorically at least. His optics were still a bit cloudy, and his audio receptors were still ringing, just not from Miko. On top of it all, his arm was acting up a bit again from the wear and tear of war. The wrecker sat up and observed it was late in the day. His audios persistantly kept ringing, only it felt louder than the night before. He could hear a muffled voice that was coming in clearer and clearer each time it spoke; he heard someone someone calling his name.

"Ohhh, my helm... hello?" the mech said with a groggy voice to whoever was calling him.

"Wheeljack, this is Ratchet. Can you hear me?" came the voice in a clearer tone.

"Hey, doc. What's with the tone? You sound like someone almost died."  
"That's because someone almost did; Bulkhead was shot in the back last night after I left you at the Jackhammer and returned to base..." 'Jack's optics widened and was left speechless for what felt like hours. "Wheeljack... Wheeljack, answer me..."

"Send a GroundBridge, I'm not just gonna stand here while Bulk's walking the line."

"Of course, Wheeljack. Bridge is up and opening at your location," came the medic's voice as the bridge appeared right in front of the wrecker's optics. _You're gonna be fine, Bulk; you can't leave me here as the only wrecker left... or leave Miko as the only one without an Autobot guardian._

On the other side of the Bridge, Ratchet and Agent Fowler awaited his arrival, along with the others'; Raf and Jack were on their way back from school with 'Bee and Arcee. Miko, on the other hand, had stayed behind at base to be with an unconcious and injured Bulkhead. She was the first thing his ice blue optics noticed in the large silo room.

"Bulk, you're gonna be fine...just wake up soon. Don't leave me, Bulk; who else will watch the monster truck rally with me?" the Japanese girl said between soft sobs she was trying to hide. Wheeljack saw the trails her tears left on her face, and he felt sympathy for her.

"Miko..." he tried to whisper, but it still came out as his loud-ish voice. Miko didn't turn around, though; she refused to release Bulkhead's frame from her eyes' snare. "Miko... Bulkhead is gonna be fine; Ratchet's the best at what he does. He'll be back on his feet before you know it."

"How can you be so sure? I can't lose my best friend, Wheeljack, I just can't; since I left Japan, all I've had is this..." she said, looking at the celing of the old silo. Her head then returned to its downward position, and the poor girl began to slowly release a light stream of tears. All Wheeljack could do was stand by the human as she feared for their common comrad's life.

* * *

"Raf, wait up! Dude!" Jamie exclaimed as she sprinted after her only friend in Jasper. She couldn't tell why he was in such a rush to get home.

"Sorry, Jamie. My mom needs me at home right now; my, umm, b-brother was injured last night. I have to be there for him." The look in his eyes told Jamie that it wasn't just some lame excuse, that there was some legitimacy buried in his reasons. Of course, she was 'difficult' to handle, so she waved in understandment to her techie-friend, and waited for him and his other pal leave the grounds. After she was sure she was out of their sight, she began the long walk that lay ahead of her. Raf wasn't completely telling her the truth, and she knew it; she was gonna find out where he was headed. **Look out Jasper, here comes trouble!**

"Okay... this was THE STUPIDEST idea I have EVER had. There's no sign of Raf's ride, let alone any houses for it to stop at. Oh, cool mesa. Not what I'm looking for, but cool. This freaking sucks, Jamie Amelia. It really sucks." Jamie said, brushing her black hair with an bright lime green streak down the middle out of her face. The sun was setting, her 'family' would be unphased by her absence, and she had no idea where the crap she was. **How absolutely fan-freaking-tastic; I'm in the desert, alone, at night, and I have NO FREAKING CLUE OF WHERE TO GO!**

Hours passed by, she had no water, and the only shelter was that mesa in front of her, about two miles ahead. Jamie knew she had no other choice.**Crap on a chiz sandwich,I need... to sit down. I need to hit that mesa...**

She tried to hit the mesa, but because she was dehydrated, the only thng she hit was the sand and dirt, shining a blue-orange in the moonlight.

* * *

Chapter 1! Yay! please review, peeps; on the spot writing going on... adios until the next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

Human Companionship - Chapter 2  
Transformers Prime  
After 'Triage'/ 'Toxicity'  
**Jamie's thoughts  
**_Wheeljack's thoughts_

* * *

The sun was beating down hard, even at seven in the morning. Wheeljack had been motionlessly sitting by his comrad's side for almost two days straight, along with Miko. The two sat with Bulkhead for hours, and the only motion that would occur was the blinking of eyes/optics. That morning, Ratchet had seen enough of their sulking. Well, Wheeljack's at least; he knew he couldn't get Miko to move.

"Wheeljack, why don't you go for a drive? You need to get some sun, plus, Wreckers don't stay physically up to snuff when they sit in the same spot for almost 36 hours," the medic said, trying calmly to get the commando to move. Wheeljack remained where he was.

"So? What's the point if I'm not 'up to snuff'? I can't just leave Bulk like this. He could die while I'm gone if I leave," he argued back. The old doc-bot grabbed a wrench and chucked it at the other mech's head with pinpoint accuracy. "Hey, what was that for?" 'Jack yelled, turning towards the wrench-wielder with a ticked look.

"Good, you can still move. Now, get up and see if Arcee will take you around the city... I mean it, Wheeljack," Ratch said with a spark-piercing look in his optics. The lone Wrecker complied with a scowl and went to find the two-wheeler of blue.

With Jack on board, Arcee agreed to show Wheeljack around Jasper. The two 'bots and their human ally soon left the hidden silo and headed down the dirt road. It wasn't long before they spotted something unusual along the side of the road. _Oh, Primus... this can't be good._

* * *

Jamie slowly opened her eyes; she could feel her back was burning. The light above her was burning her hazel eyes, too. She tried to shield herself from the intense light, but as soon as she moved her arm, she inhaled violently through her teeth; she had an extreme sunburn that consumed her back and shoulders. As much as she tried to, she couldn't keep the scream of pain from escaping her mouth. It echoed so loud through the silo that everyone, even Miko, came to see what happened.

Ratchet was the first and only one to see Jamie trying not to show the pain she was suffering from. The mech's white and orange head was the first thing that she really saw; her eyes widened, forgetting the pain that tortured her skin.** Ho-ly c-rap... there's a huge freakin' robot in my face.**

"Hello there, it's good to see you're up. How are you feeling? You were out in the sun for quite some time..." Ratchet asked as he shooed everyone else away. Jamie could only say one thing in reply to the questions she'd been asked.

"Am I dead, or is this really happening?"

* * *

Jack, Raf, and Miko were excused from school to keep Jamie company while they waited for Jack's mom to arrive... well, Jack and Raf were; Miko had been quiet and had been keeping to herself so much lately, it was almost alien. Jamie, on the other hand, had some questions for Raf.

"Raf, where the CRAP are we, who are the huge robots here, and why'd you lie to me at school? I thought you were my friend... and who's the long-legged goon standing next to you?" she asked in anger. Raf knew he deserved it, but he didn't have a choice but to keep it from her at the time. Jack looked a bit hurt by being called a long-legged goon.

"I'm sorry, Jamie, but I couldn't tell you the truth. You're not even supposed to know these guys exist; they're a government secret. Right now, we're in the silo that we call our base. It just happens to be disguised as a mesa. These guys are Autobots, our allies; they're fighting a secret civil war here against their mortal foes, the Decepticons. I lied because I am a part of their war now, along with my good friends Jack-"he said, pointing to Jack, who still looked hurt by the insult he was served, "-and Miko. When I said my brother was shot, I meant Bulkhead, Miko's Autobot guardian and friend. We all have one; Jack's with Arcee, Miko's with Bulk, and I'm with Bumblebee."  
After Raf had answered all of his friend's questions, Jamie felt a mixture of emotions. She was sad for Miko and Bulk, from the war, and for Wheeljack; then there was some excitement because she knew something almost nobody else did; also, there was some self-pity since she knew she'd be sent back to her 'family', the last people she wanted to see.

"Raf, does this mean I get to be a part of the war, too? I can't go back to the guardians they call my family; they don't care about me."

"Well, yeah. Besides, Ratchet'll want to keep an eye on you since you got sunburned; he's the orange and white robot, by the way." Raf was explaining who was who to Jamie when June, Jack's nurse-mom, showed up in some clunky old Caddilac that looked like it'd seen better days.** Oh God... a nurse... not a nurse... **

Jamie's eyes widened at the sight of her; nurses were nothing but trouble as far as Jamie knew.

* * *

**Chapter 2 was gonna be longer, but I started to get tired, so now I shall leave you at a non-dramatic cliffhanger. R&R peeps; I don't own anyone but Jamie. Do you think she should have a last name, or just keep it at first and middle names? Adios!**


	4. Chapter 4

Human Companinonship - Chapter 3  
Transformers Prime  
After 'Triage'/ 'Toxicity'  
**Jamie's thoughts  
**_Wheeljack's thoughts_

"Don't touch me, lady. I don't trust nurses, so keep your distance..." Jamie said with menacing eyes. Nurses were why her mother never came back home, and why she had been tossed into the system. June put her open-palmed hands up slightly in defense to the crisped girl.

"Calm down, I'm going to help you; I'm Jack's mom, and Ratchet said you're seriously sunburned. Let me help you, Jamie."

"No! I don't need help, so don't even come close to me! You nurses are all the same; feed patients this crap about how you're 'gonna help' them get better, and then they end up dead. I don't WANT your help, long-legged goon's mom..." Jamie was getting in a mini-rage, and Raf could see it'd become a full one soon if he didn't try to calm her down. The boy ran across the overhanging catwalks to the spot where they watched TV and gamed, then slid down the ladder to the concrete floor. Jamie noticed his semi-speedy approach.

"Jamie, she's okay; she's not gonna hurt you. You can trust her; she helped Ratchet save my life, once. Trust me, Jamie... please." Raf could see the tears in the corner of her eyes that she was trying to restrain. The pain was getting to be too much for his strong friend. She started to shiver, but it was quite warm in the silo.

"If you trust her..." a shakey Jamie said to Raf. She looked at June with different eyes then before. "I'm sorry, Miss Darby; I just can't trust many people to do what's right anymore. Please, will you forgive me?" June could tell she was genuinely sorry and forgave Jamie, but then she got all serious again. Her head and chest were back in the car; she was digging around for something. When her head appeared once more, she had her medical bag and a large jar of aloe cream. After briefly searching, out of the bag came portable IV racks; the nurse could easily tell she was becoming dehydrated.

"Jamie, I'm going to have to roll you on your back so I can see how badly you've been burned. It'll probably hurt, so I'm going to give you this towel to bite down on if it does," she said as she inserted the IV needles into Jamie's wrists. "Jack, Raf, I need you two to help me get her flipped over." The two guys came to the nurse's rescue and turned the girl onto her back; her screams into the towel were so loud, it was hard to tell if she even had a towel to bite on and muffle her cries.

The scissors cut the back of Jamie's shirt with ease without making contact with her scorched back. The nurse was taken back slightly; Jamie's back had been burned to where it was a bright red compared to her light tan skin. Her whole back looked as if it were wet; she definetly had a nasty second degree burn. In some spots it was starting to blister slightly. June continued tending to the burn and started to clean it. As soon as the cloth June was going to use to clean the burn touched her, Jamie bit down tighter than a Rotweiler on the towel. The pain of the burn caused her to pass out.

"She's going to be fine, Ratchet, but it'll be two or three weeks before her back is fully healed. I'll have to stop by once a day to replace the bandages." Jamie could just barely make out June's voice.  
"Are there any... side effects to watch for while her back heals, Nurse Darby?" **Ratchet's having a Jamie convo with June... **_**now**_** I'm the center of attention. Just not how I wanted to be.**

"Not really; If she starts to scratch it, though, keep her from doing so; it'll worsen the burn. Jamie'll probably end up having scars all over her back as well."

"Don't allow her to scratch, understood. Anything else?"

"No, that should take care of everything. If she asks, though, she can move around some, the bandages'll help take the edge off the pain, but don't let her climb up ladders or do anything that'll make her skin stretch. That makes it worse as well."

"Understood; I will notify you if her burn gets worse." Ratchet said, bringing the conversation to an end, followed by the start of an engine and a car driving away. Jamie remained perfectly still on her stomach. She waited until the sound of huge, metallic footsteps walking away reached her ear.

* * *

Wheeljack had witnessed everything that happened to the girl from Ratchet calling in Jack's mom to the other humans (minus Miko) trying to get the burn cleaned so it could heal to what he saw at that very moment; she was trying to leave.  
"I wouldn't do that if I were you..."

Jamie turned to face the voice; instantly, she knew she'd seen him before. **That's the robot dude, guy -whatever they're called- who found me...**

"Look, I'm grateful for you saving me and all, but I'm useless here, so why should I stay, Christmas-bot?" It was the stripes...

"It's Wheeljack, short stuff, and because you just need to; you said so yourself that you don't have anywhere or anyone to go to. Sunshine doc-bot and the tall kid's mom can help you better than anyone else."

"That may be, Wheeljack, bu Jamie here don't want help; I can take care of myself..." she counter-argued, crossing her arms and instantly feeling the pain from the toasted skin.

"I don't think so. You should stay here where you're safe. Besides, you shouldn't worsen it by going back out into the sun..." He soundlessly walked over to where Jamie was standing and blocked her way.

"Do you care about me or something? Quit shuffling your feet, dude, and let me go," Jamie said; she was having one of her 'difficult' moments.

"No," the chistmas colored mech said a tad too quickly. Jamie stopped moving and stared at him, stared right into his robot eyes. Neither moved for what felt like an hour... until Ratchet and Prime saw them standing there.

"Wheeljack, is the human trying to leave?" Optimus asked, breaking both's trances. Wheeljack looked at the two standing behind the attempted escapee.

"No, Prime. She just wanted to see the rest of the silo, that's all."

"Jamie, you need to remain on bedrest until your burn is healed enough to handle your constant movements, understood?" The Autobot leader looked at Jamie, who sighed in reply.

"Fine, my master, if I must... can I at least get some form of entertainment, like some music? Or even a notebook and pencil?" Prime looked at the mech next to him.

"Ratchet, what do you think?"

"Raf has an extra laptop she could use... with his permission. That shouldn't work the skin too much." Ratchet said, making a cranky Jamie a pleased Jamie.

"Yayness! I need to check my e-mail and chizz," she said, immediately returning to her berth. "Ummm, can I get a lift up? I'm not exactly your guys' height..."

* * *

**Okay, I hated writing this chapter only because it took me FOREVER. Please review peeps! Thank Primus school's out!**


	5. Chapter 5

Human Companionship- Chapter 4  
After 'Triage'/ 'Toxicity'  
**Jamie's Thoughts  
**_Wheeljack's Thoughts_

_How can she sit there all DAY? Jack and Raf ha-, wait, scratch that; JACK has a hard time doing the same thing for more than an hour each WEEK. Jamie's over there on that freakin' Toshiba doin' whatever all day... I thought humans were all the same; frag, was I off... _Wheeljack though to himself as he walked back through the GroundBridge; he had finally gotten past the sulking part of his sympathy for Bulkhead and had been going out for drives and on 'con rounds in town. Three days had passed since Bulk went boom, and Jamie turned toaster waffle, and in that time, Jamie had gotten maybe... eight hours of sleep (?), and that burn of hers had turned from a disturbing image of red blisters and pigment-less surrounding skin to a rough, dark brown scab, which was still gross to look at, at least for Wheeljack and the two teen boys. Jamie personally thought it was cool; from what she saw in the pictures of it each week, it looked like a blobbed-up version of Godzilla.

* * *

"How is Jamie's back's burn progressing, Ratchet?" Optimus asked, Jamie oblivious to the rest of the world as she sat with her Toshiba on what sounded like either Youtube or iTunes.

"It's coming; Nurse Darby says its surprisingly much faster than avergae healing. In my opinion, it's frankly quite awe-inspiring how human flesh that has been penetrated all the way from the epidermial layer, through the dermis, and to the subcutaneous tissue can heal in only a matter of days. Facinating..."

"Well, I am glad that you are enjoying yourself and your profession once more. It has been quite some time since I last saw you so joyful."

"Hey," Ratchet said, trying to cover up his true feelings about Jamie; he scowled. "Don't get it twisted, I'll break your jaw, and you'll be sippin' fried chicken through a crazy straw..." His attempt to play off his feeling of friendship with Jamie made the Autobot commander laugh.

"I wasn't aware of your, for a lack of better words, 'passion' of 'rap' music," Prime said with a smirk. Ratchet waved it off, grumbling to himself as he walked away.

* * *

Jamie, equipped with her shiny black Beats, was oblivious to the rest of her little robot world... at least until her back started to itch again. She tried everything that June'd suggested to keep her from scratching it, but nothing seemed to work. The headphones came off her ears and hugged her neck instead.

"God, this freaking burn itches like crazy..." she said to herself as she went to scratch. The voice stopped her.

"You know you aren't supposed to scratch, Jamie."

"Yes, _Mom_... Since when did you decide to be my 'protector', hmm, Raf?" Jamie replied, looking at Raf as he walked toward the ladder on Jamie's berth, courtesy of Ratchet.

"Last I checked, I was the only one who noticed the girl who 'sticks out like a neon sign.' That's what you said, isn't it?" Raf smiled as he climbed up.

"Yeah, and it's still pretty much that way. These Autobots are always busy, you and Jack are at school, and Miko's... hey, where IS Miko?" Screams of Ratchet's name instantly followed that last word.

"There's your answer... and there she is," Raf said, pointing at Miko as she ran, looking for Ratchet. Jamie closed the laptop and started to stand.

"Miko, wait for us! Come on, Raf; I wanna find out what's goin' on."

"But, what about your burn?"

"What about it? I'll be fine, now let's go!" Jamie exclaimed as she slid down the ladder and ran to catch up with Miko. Raf closely trailed behind.

* * *

Ratchet was in one of the many corridors, trying to fix a glitch in the Ground Bridge electrical system. The yelling of three kids made him lose his focus. His tools fell to the ground when he saw the look on Miko's face.

"RATCHET!" she yelled, running down the hall towards him with a look on her face that made his spark sink.

"Miko, what's wrong? Is someone hurt?" He knelt down to her level, the anxiety on her face told him it wasn't Wheeljack or Arcee that she was worried about.

"It's Bulk! He-he keeps slipping in and out o-of conciousness! He started to wa-" Ratchet cut her off.

"Wait, Bulkhead's concious?"

"He started to wake up just a bit ago, but then he went unconcious again! You gotta help him!"

Ratchet didn't hesitate; Jamie and Raf dove to the corridor walls to avoid being squished and stuck to the floor like a chewed piece of gum. The blur of orange and white was soon trailed by a blur of pink and green and all the colors in between. Jamie tried to stand up without her burn hurting and looked at Raf. Raf looked into Jamie's hazel eyes.

"I am so going with them."

With that, Jamie took off down the hall, leaving Raf to process what she just told him.

Miko stood on the catwalk up and across from where her guardian lay, watching Ratchet like a hawk. Ratchet could feel her eyes watching him as he tried giving him an anti-sedative shot to asisst Bulk in staying concious. Miko stood, watching intently, when she felt the warmth of a hand on her shoulder.

**She needs a friend, one who understands what she's feeling...** Jamie knew exactly hom Miko was feeling; Miko was losing someone she looked up to and kept in her heart. Jamie already had her someone ripped from her heart.

"You okay, Miko?" She asked, slightly surprising the green Wrecker's human friend. Her brown eyes met with Jamie's hazel ones.

"He's my best friend, and I can't help him... I don't know what I'll do if I don't have Bulk; I can't go back to living a boring life." A single tear slid down her face.

"I know what it's like... to have your best friend- ripped away from you, stolen from your heart; it sucks. I know all too well how it feels to have nobody stand by your side when you need them most. The realization that the only person who really cared about you isn't there anymore."

"R-really? Who was it?"

"My mom. She was the only person I had to look up to, the only one who really cared about me. Some guy robbed her at gunpoint, and even after she gave him all the stuff she had that was worth something, he shot her in the chest."

"Oh my God...that's, that's... horrible." Miko put her hands over her mouth in shock. Jamie stared at the wall directly in front of her so she wouldn't have to look at Miko when she started to cry.

"By the time she had gotten to the hospital, the nurses and doctors didn't even want to try to save her; they said she was 'too wounded to save.' Brianne Charolette Nelson; she was 28." Jamie closed her eyes, hanging her head over the rail. It pained her to think of her mom in a jar six feet underground, hundreds of miles away in Scotland.  
"She was shipped to her homeland, and that's where she'll always be. I'll never see her again... but Bulk still has a chance. You can still have your best friend because Ratchet refused to just let him die, unlike the jerks who let my mom die alone, never getting to say goodbye."

"But, you don't look Scottish."

"I got stuck looking like my father; black hair and Filipino looks dominate over all the Scottish-ness." Jamie turned and faced Miko, putting her hand out in front of her. Miko looked at her, and she took Jamie's hand in hers to shake it.

"Miko; Japanese rockstar-to-be," she said, smiling the slightest bit as she shook Jamie's hand.

"Jamie; Vegas native and runaway."

* * *

**Man, what a day; Miko and I are friends all because of Bulkhead's wierd conciousness issue, my burn looks like Godzilla, and that one robot always seems to be watching me... I'll have to bug him about it tomorrow. **Jamie was getting ready to go to bed, and Wheeljack constantly watching her was the only thing she could think of; he and Arcee came back to base after Bulkhead had safely and completely regained conciosness.

_Jamie... she's something else; she's got a big mouth, but clams up with certain things. The kid's like me... Wheeljack, having a human would be a bad thing. Let it go, Jamie probably doesn't even want to talk to you, so stop thinking of having a partner. Bulkhead's back, so you won't need one... _Wheeljack thought to himself as he stared at the ceiling of the Jackhammer, which still sat in the forest. He closed his optics, hoping to think of anything but Jamie in his recharge. Bulkhead lurked into his dreams... which soon lead to thoughts of revenge.


	6. Chapter 6

Human Companionship- Chapter 5  
Transfomers Prime  
After 'Triage'/ 'Toxicity'  
**Jamie's thoughts  
**_Wheeljack's thoughts_

* * *

**A/N; Now, this chapter spills into the episode Hurt. For those of you who haven't seen it, sorry; total episode spoilers! Slight difference from the episode, but for the most part, its the same. Sorry for taking forever to update...**

* * *

Wheeljack was busy. He tried to sleep, but there was no way to get rid of the 'con's unknown face out of his helm. _That con will pay... for Bulkhead... _the white, red, and green mech thought to himself as he finished repairing multiple parts of his ship. The moon's white light shone onto the mech and his ship in the dark of night. _Let's make some noise... _Jackie wrung his hands together as he walked inside. There was a map of known energon mines belonging to the Decepticons inside; _Lots of noise. Come and get me..._

Miko was sitting beside Bulkhead; Ratchet had done everything he could for now, but... she felt like she had something to do. Something to take care of... Miko looked at the motionless green frame; she felt revenge boiling in her.

Morning arrived, and Wheeljack had just finished repairing the Jackhammer. Once he packed up his tools, he readied his ship for war, and then flew over to Prime's base. He hurried inside to find Prime once he arrived.

"Prime... Doc, where's Prime?" Wheeljack asked Ratchet as he entered, for he was the only one in sight.

"In his quarters still, as is everyone else; why do you ask?" He replied, briefly checking on Bulkhead.

"I need to know who did this to Bulkhead..." he said in a cold, serious tone. Ratchet turned to face the Wrecker.

"Wheeljack, I don't think it's wise to go seeking revenge right now; our main focus should be Bulkhead's recovery."

"That's what I'm doing... I'm putting Bulkhead before myself. Now, who do I hunt down?"

Optimus appeared from deep in the base from his quarters. "Wheeljack, revenge is not going to help Bulkhead recover."

"I got that, Prime! If you won't help me, then frag it... I'll find out myself..." he said. All of the yelling woke up Jamie. As she went to find shorts, then discovered she had fallen asleep in her clothes from the previous day, the negative-feeling conversation increased. Jamie was cafeful to not make any noise as she krept into the main room of the silo where the three mechs stood, arguing. Miko caught her eye as she joined the argument. Jamie couldn't hear what Miko was saying, but whatever it was, she didn't like it, and started to leave.

Wheeljack climbed into the Jackhammer and sat down in the pilot's seat when his optic spotted something right in it's corner.

"Miko! What are you doing here?" he asked, very surprised. The appearance of Jamie right next to her surprised him some more.

"What am I, chopped liver?" Jamie asked with the same look on her face as Miko had on hers.

"We're gonna help you, Wheeljack... For Bulk." Miko looked at Jamie. "Right?"

"Yep... Miko and I know who did it," Jamie said. Miko had told her when she joined her in the seat right before Jackie arrived. The look in Wheeljack's optics seemed to indicate that he was arguing with himself, but that he was going to let them help.

"Who?"

"Let us help, and we'll tell you," Miko said. Jamie crossed her arms in agreement.

"Fine... you can help, Miko. As for you, Jamie, I want you to stay in the Jackhammer while we get Megatron's attention," he said. Miko was glad that he'd let them help, but Jamie... not so much.

"What?! Why do I have to stay back? This sucks," she said, pouting. "It's the burn, isn't it?" she asked. Wheeljack just kept flying; _This is gonna be a long flight..._

* * *

"We've got some guards on the first level, looks like this is all storage," Miko said as Jamie held her phone as it gave Wheeljack the visuals of the mine. Soon after Miko spoke, the phone's camera focused on something slightly above where it was previously pointed.

"Some more of 'em up on level two," Jamie chimed in, but Wheeljack never heard her. Just as she finished speaking, chunks of debris flew towards the two girls from behind, followed by Wheeljack and his swords.

"Holy crap! Hit the dirt!" Jamie yelled, pushing herself and Miko behind a boulder as red plasma blasts their intended target. The blasts continued for a few seconds more until the only sound was of blades being placed into their scabbards, which werre followed by thundering footsteps.

"How was the show?" 'Jack asked with a grin. Jamie and Miko looked at him with smiles as they caught their breath.

"Coulda used an entrance warning, but overall, very cool," a huffing Jamie replied as she leaned back completely against the boulder with her legs extened out in front of her. Miko, on the other hand, wanted to get back to the task at hand.

"Hey, let's focus on scrapping Hardshell. What do we do next?" Miko had Bulkhead on her mind, and she wanted her revenge served ice cold. Both Wheeljack and Jamie could tell she meant buisness.

"Time to ready the Energon and make some noise..." he said, pulling out his grenade.

* * *

"Lord Megatron, you have a distress caller who refuses to speak to all except you, sir," one of the guards on the Nemesis informed his leader. Megatron approached him slowly, in a very frightening manner.

"Did he say what he wants?" His voice echoed, sounding cold enough to freeze Energon.

"One of the Energon mines was attacked, but that is all he will say; he wishes to speak to you only, sir."

Megatron pushed past his loyal, nameless, servant of war to take his 'exclusive' call. The voice on the other end was quite unexpected.

"Hey Megatron, remember me?" Wheeljack said, making his call from right outside the mine.

"Wheeljack... What do you want?" Megatron asked coldly. Wheeljack didn't seem to notice his words' chill.

"Your pet bug, the one who tried to scrap Bulkhead..."

"Tried?" he asked, looking enraged as he shot a glare to the Insecticon in question. Hardshell was shocked to hear he had failed.

Wheeljack continued. "I'll send you the coordinants to the next mine I'm gonna hit, and if your mech Hardshell has the guts, he can meet me there and maybe save you the loss of more Energon. Oh, and in case you wanted to know what a mine of exploding Energon sounds like..." Wheeljack let the grenade and Energon do the rest of the talking as they flew off to the next mine.

"HARDSHELL! RENDEZVOUS WITH WHEELJACK, AND YOU'D BETTER RETURN WITH HIS SPARK, OR RETURN DEAD!" Megatron was throwing a fit the size of his ego...

* * *

Wheeljack parked his ship a few hundred feet away from the mine, and as he began to head toward the exit, Miko and Jamie joined him.

"Wait for us, Wheeljack... What's the gameplan?" Miko asked in a serious tone.

"The gameplan... You two are staying here and I am going to fight the bug." Wheeljack knew neither of the humans liked his plan.

"What?! You said we could help!" Jamie exclaimed. Wheeljack looked at both of them.

"And you did, but now I have to take care of this myself. If anything happens to me, press this button; I've set it to auto-pilot you back to Prime's base," he said, indicating the blue button under the ship control wheel. Both of his little spies nodded slowly, and with that, he left the two to wait patiently.

The red, white, and green Wrecker sped away from the ship and toward the mine. "You in there, bug?!" Wheeljack yelled. Nothing appeared from the mine... Hardshell fell from the top of the canyon housing the mine.

"Autobot fool... You wont make it out of this fight functioning," the Insecticon said, causing rage to build inside of the 'bot. Wheeljack raced towards his enemy, transforming as he got air, and pinned him to the ground briefly before being flung off violently.

From the ship, both Jamie and Miko watched as the two mechs tried to come out victoriously over the other. "Go Wheeljack, kick his aft!" Jamie yelled throug the glass. It was no help to 'Jackie since he couldn't hear his cheerleading squad over the clash of metal on metal. The fight continued on, and Hardshell seemed to have the upper hand.

"Thanks to your friend, I know all of your Wrecker tricks!" Hardshell taunted. Wheeljack pulled a fast move on him, shoving him to the ground with a square hit to the chest with his feet.

"Obviously not that one, bugbrain!"

"Insults are a sign of weakness," the con countered, returning to his feet. Even with his swords, Wheeljack was having difficulty obtaining the upper hand.

"No!" Jamie yelled as she and Miko watched Wheeljack take a beating. The con sent him flying, then worked his chassis with his fists; Hardshell wasnt letting up one bit. Wheeljack caught a brief break from his punishment when Hardshell let up just long enough to get kicked away. His grenade was his last chance... But it was gone. It had fallen off when the fight first started. As fast as he could, he limped towards the grenade, just as it was shot out of his grasp.

"You are mine!" the Decepticon yelled. Wheeljack could see the end was upon him. "Press the button!" he called to the ship; he had a comm link open tothe ship in case this happened.

"Miko, now!" Jamie yelled as Miko pressed the button.

"Megatron will love to keep your spark," Hardshell said with an evil smirk. Just as he went for Wheeljack, he was blasted with a rocket in the back, sending him to meet his end. Wheeljack was surprised; he limped back to the ship.

"I thought I said to get ot of here," he said as he sat down in the pilot's seat.

Jamie and Miko looked at their Autobot partner. Miko answered in a monotonus voice.

"Bad things happen to bots when I leave their side..."

"And a good soldier doesn't leave a bot behind," Jamie added. Wheeljack took a few seconds to process their words and smiled.

"You two make great Wreckers; Bulk would be proud of you Miko," he said, forgetting Jamie didn't have anyone to feel proud of her. In response to Wheeljack's comment, she looked away sadly for a moment, then got up out of her shared seat to look out the rear window.

"Scrap, Jamie!" he called after her, wishing he could take back his words. "I'll be right back, Miko," he said, turning on autopilot.

"I'll be here..." she replied emotionlessly. Bulk was on her mind again. Wheeljack followed Jamie's retreating form.

"Jamie, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, I was just trying to make Miko feel better," he said. Jamie kept staring out the window and gave him no response. "Jamie?"

"What are the Decepticon bugs called again?" she asked as she stared in shock out the window.

"Insecticons... Why?"

"Take a look," she said, moving to the side of the window. A gigantic swarm of Insecticons trailed behind the Jackhammer.

"Oh frag..."

* * *

Jamie followed Wheeljack to his stash of grenades. "I though, Miko said, I thou-."

"I only carry one at a TIME, Jamie," he answered as he cut her off. With the box in hand, and Jamie behind him, the Wrecker quickly limped back to the pilot pod to teach the roof hatch.

The Insecticon swarm looked even bigger than from inside the ship. Wheeljack put the crate of grenades on the roof of his ship and transformed his hand into his firearm. _One's not gonna be enough... Here goes the whole crate!_

The grenades scattered and mixed in with the robot bugs; Wheeljack steadied his aim and fired at one grenade. The blast from the chain reaction of grenades was so strong that it shook the Jackhammer, causing Wheeljack to almost fly out of the ship. Luckily, the Wrecker caught himself before he did. Once Wheeljack climbed back down into his ship, he closed up the hatch and took his chair back and let auto pilot get them back to Prime.

* * *

"Anyone know where Wheeljack went?" Arcee asked Optimus and Bumblebee as Ratchet kept an optic on Bulkhead. Bumble replied in beeps and whirrs as usual.

"Figured he went out for revenge, but where specifically, Bee, is what I meant," Arcee said as she put her hands on her hips. Bumblebee shrugged. "Of course you wouldn't know..." she replied.

Optimus was just about to comment on Arcee's remark when the sound of someone's footsteps approaching alerted them. Jamie and Miko took the lead into the silo with their injured partner limping behind them.

"Wheeljack, where have you been for the majority of the day?" Optimus asked. He suspected that was the cause of his injuries.

"Miko, Jamie! Are you two okay?" Arcee questioned them instantly.

"They're fine, Arcee; cool down," Wheeljack answered for them as he held his arm.

"I didn't ask you," Arcee snapped. Jamie tapped her foot.

"We're okay... How Bulkhead is is more important. Is he gonna be okay?" she asked the blue two wheeler. Ratchet answered for her.

"Bulkhead will survive... I'm not sure if I can say the same for Wheeljack, but Bulkhead should be up and running soon; he may not ever fully function again, though..." Those words sent Miko's heart deep down, farther than it was when she had seen him close to death on the floor.

* * *

"Lord Megatron, nearly all of the Insecticons have perished..."

"Nearly all?"

"Yes, one survived; he saw that the Autobot had help."

"Help?"

"Yes, sir. He said that the Autobot was being assisted by a human girl..."

"...Miko..."


	7. Chapter 7

Human Companionship - Chapter 6

Transformers Prime

After 'Triage'/ 'Toxicity'

_Wheeljack's Thoughts_

* * *

Wheeljack stood through the arguments and yelling and whatnot from Optimus and Ratchet. The rage was still flowing through his veins, but just so slightly. He held his arm, still throbbing in pain from his Insecticon encounter, but the pain didn't process in his mind. The only things he heard and saw were all the mistakes he had made against so many Autobots. He stood there in a depressed-like trance.

"Wheeljack..." Optimus's voice thundered as it echoed in the silo. The red mech was beyond angry with the Wrecker's actions. Even with his firm voice, the Wrecker didn't leave his trance right away.

"Frag it. You don't want me here? Fine, I'll just leave... I never would intentionally put Miko or anyone else in danger, but you're making me sound like the fragging bad guy. At least I took care of my debt to Bulkhead..." Wheeljack said as he walked away from the others. Arcee and Bumblebee had taken the four humans somewhere where they wouldn't witness what happened between the three mechs.

_It's for the best that I leave... I don't belong in his ranks. Nobody tells me what to do..._ Wheeljack thought to himself as he walked away. The Jackhammer sat right outside the silo, out of view from the road nearby. Just as he began to enter his ship, Arcee and Bumblebee returned from their outing. Bumblebee skidded to halt, and for some reason, was beeping in response to someone. That someone was Jamie.

She had seen the Christmas-bot through the window as he was about to leave.

"Bumblebee, stop!" she had yelled, causing the mech to abruptly slam the breaks. Jamie forced her way to the door as 'Bee whirred in argument. Her dark-brown ponytail swayed as she sprinted toward the Wrecker.

"Wheeljack! You're leaving?!" she yelled as she approached him. Wheeljack looked back to see the girl.

"Yeah... It's for the best, okay Jamie? Optimus doesn't need me here," he replied as he turned to enter his ship.

"But... why? We just started to become friends..." Her face had an expression of sadness and disbelief. At that point, the sun had long since set, and Jamie seemed to shake either from being cold or from the fact that he was leaving. She wouldn't admit it to him, but Jamie thought Wheeljack was the greatest thing since wifi.

"Just... just because, Jamie," the Wrecker said coldly. He didn't want to tell her the truth.

"That's not good enough; why are you leaving?" Jamie pushed on, choking on the last word.

"Just because, okay Jamie! What part of that don't you get?! Optimus doesn't want me on the team, and I don't want to be a part of it, either!" he shouted. As soon as he did, he wished he hadn't. Jamie stood by his feet, looking up at him. Her hazel eyes suggested how she felt, along with the tears that slid down her face. Her hands were clenched into fists at her sides, and her lower lip shook.

"Thanks a lot, Wheeljack... I thought you were my friend. You're really just a jerk. You could've at least spared me your yelling." Jamie began walking towards the silo backwards, waving him off sadly ang angrily.

"Jamie... I'm, I'm so-" he tried to apoligize before getting cut short.

"I don't care if you're sorry! You wanna leave, go ahead! I've been let down by someone I trusted before, so don't worry about me! I've been let down before, so why not add you to the list, just for the heck of it! I hate you right now! I trusted you, but now you lost it!" At that point, Jamie was sobbing, and she turned around to run. The other two Autobots and the three kids stood there in shock from what they had just seen. Wheeljack looked over at them sadly.

Arcee galred at him as 'Bee took the humans back to the silo. Her arms were crossed, and she shook her head.

"Just because you can't handle yourself and your thirst for screwing up doesn't mean you had to yell at Jamie. She trusted you, and if I know anything, it's that trust is something that you may never get back from her. She's been through so much... I wouldn't expect you to understand, though."

"I didn't mean to yell... I just couldn't tell her the truth."

"I'm not surprised, Wrecker... can't find it in yourself to be honest to someone who looks up to you. Yeah, she looked up to you, Wheeljack. Just you. Now she has nobody."

"Thanks, Arcee. You sure know how to kick someone when they're down," he shot back.

"At least I'm not the one who crushed a kid's heart," Arcee said coldly as she transformed to return to the silo and catch up with the others. Wheeljack stood there as if he were stuck to that one piece of desert ground.

_Frag; I blew it... I made up my debt to Bulkhead and lost Jamie's trust... Maybe she's right, maybe I am a jerk..._

He re-entered his ship and took off, never looking back.

* * *

A week later...

Jamie and Raf came 'home' from school, and just as they did, Miko was doing leg-lifts with Bulkhead.

"Come on, Bulk! Three more!" Miko encouraged her guardian.

"That's so not weird to see when I get home from school," Jamie commented with sarcasm, climbing the ladder to her homework-pad and listening to her various songs on her iPod. She was still in a bit of a phase of being in a bad mood.

"What's Jamie's issue, Raf?" Miko asked, continuing her workout with her guardian.

"Still mad at Wheeljack for taking off is all," he said, throwing his backpack into the usual corner he tossed it in.

"After what he did, I wouldn't mind if that mech stayed rogue!" Ratchet yelled from his usual spot by the computer systems, doing some boring task that nobody cared to see what it was.

"Nobody asked you, Ratchet!" Jamie yelled back, throwing a heavy algebra book at him.

"Ouch... feel bad for that poor book," Bulk said, trying to finish his last leg-lift.

"Shut up, Bulkhead..." Ratchet glared at him fiercely as he picked up the book.

"Give me my algebra book back," Jamie said with a look as fierce as the medi-bot's.

"Apoligize first."

"Fine; I'm sorry you're an aft."

"You're pushing your luck, Jamie."

"And you're pushing my spanish teacher's age, what's your point?" Jamie sat there, reviewing her homework. She didn't even bother to look up as she spoke. Ratchet huffed.

"Humans..."

"Robots..." She responded.

"... I'm not going to even respond... "

"Best that you don't, Ratchet. Jamie isn't like most humans when dealing with her emotions," Optimus said, placing a hand on Ratchet's shoulder.

"At least OPTIMUS grasps that concept!" Jamie yelled, drowning her ears in music. The medic bit his lip. He was about done with the attitude.

"Ratchet, leave her be," Optimus reminded, slightly gripping his shoulder.

"I'm trying to, Optimus."

"You know what, screw this freaking homework. I'm going out," Jamie suddenly announced, shoving all of her papers and folders into her bag. She crossed the catwalk to where the mesa-top exit resided. The Autobots and the other humans watched as she walked off silently. Since Wheeljack left, Jamie wasn't herself. The sweetness in her hazel eyes were replaced with anger, sadness, and frustration all mixed together. The usual t-shirts were replaced with dark-colored, baggy sweatshirts. Her proud walk disappeared as she looked down and slouched instead of looking up standing straight and confident.

As she walked away, she pulled her hood over her low-set ponytail, and then, even Ratchet could tell that she was hiding her hurt beneath all of her anger. She climbed into the elevator, and the last they saw of her before the doors clacked shut was the big 21 on her back, the digits in white and the sweater in black.

"I never thought I would see Jamie, of all people, just take off," Arcee said, looking to Optimus. Even he didn't expect Jamie to give up like that. Everyone just stood there silently... except Raf. Bumblebee beeped at his human friend in protest.

"I'm gonna go with her... she'd do it for any of us, and you all know it. She might've given up on herself, and maybe so have you, but I'm not. You're right, Optimus; Jamie deals with things differently. If any of us had gone through what she had in her life, maybe we'd be the same way," he said, watching the elevator return to take him up. Bumblebee and the others watched as Raf carried Jamie's strength back to it's rightful owner.

" 'Bee's got one wise charge," Bulkhead said. Optimus nodded.

"Sometimes the wisest of comments come from the most unexpected sources, Bulkhead. I believe we have two of those sources, and not just one," he said. Somehow, he could tell that he should let Raf take over... as if he knew that Raf knew what he was doing.

Jamie sat on the edge of the mesa, her black Converse hanging over the edge. She was never good at showing her emotions, so she learned to hide them until she could cry without an audience. The tears just started on their own as she watched her feet dangle.

"Hey... ya want some company, Jamie?" a familiar voice rang out. Jamie turned to see Raf standing by the elevator. She wiped the tears off of her face.

"Yeah, sure..." she said. Raf nodded and joined her at the edge.

"Wanna get it off your chest? I'm ready and willing to listen." He smiled at her. Jamie looked into his eyes, and just started to sob.

"He was like the dad every tomboy wants to me! I thought he cared about me, but he left me alone, just like my wussy father! He was... he was my best friend, Raf... Why would he leave us like that?" she asked, her face buried in Raf's shirt.

"Maybe... maybe becasue he cares about you, Jamie. He knew that he did something wrong, and he didn't want his actions ending up hurting you... I don't he would've left if he didn't have a good reason to," he said. "Jamie, he'll come back..."

* * *

Wheeljack couldn't clear his head no matter what he did. He had that look on Jamie's face burned into his mind. The way she looked at him. The way her tears rolled down her face. The way her eyes told him that that trust he had earned from Jamie was gone.

"Stop thinking about Jamie; she don't care about me anymore, and she's in good hands..." he said out loud to himself. His gaze fell to the radio nearby. "Maybe if I listen to something, I won't be so distracted..."

The Wrecker had himself set up for an even bigger reminder of his brief, unofficial charge.

_"Don't you dare look out your window, darlin', everything's on fire. The war outside your door keeps raging on..."_

Jamie had snuck a CD in, not thinking that her Autobot was going to abbandon her. The Wrecker just sat in his seat, banging his helm into the steering wheel repeatedly. His punishment to himself for leaving Jamie alone.

"I'm sorry, Jamie. I am truly sorry that I let you fall... Just when you got back up. I'm so stupid, Jamie. I never wanted to hurt you."

* * *

**Sorry for making you all wait; I** **couldn't figure out how I wanted to write this chapter. Comment, anyone? Oh, and check out my current poll, please. Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

Human Companionship- Chapter 7  
Transformers Prime  
After 'Triage'/'Toxicity'

* * *

"Optimus, should we check on Ra-"

"No, Ratchet. Rafael understands Jamie's feelings, so we will let him deal with her." Optimus looked to Ratchet, then to the other Autobots. Arcee looked back at Optimus with optics that contained sympathy and anger at the same time.

"Optimus, you should have seen how Wheeljack treated her. As if she was nothing, that's how; he yelled at her thoughtlessly, and that was the knockout blow to Jamie's heart. That Wrecker has no spark, Optimus."

"Hey! Wheeljack has a spark, Arcee!" Bulk yelled at the two-wheeler. "I should know that mo-," he started before he got cut off.

"More than anyone, we know! If you ask me, he's a mech who doesn't care about anyone but himself and the 'exclusive' few 'bots that have the horrible fate of being a war-consumed 'comrade' of his, _Bulk_!" Arcee fired back. The anger in Bulkhead's optics was quite apparent. He stood to charge the small femme and slug her. Arcee was more than willing to knock the big brute down, even with him being still temporarily crippled from the recently-deceased Hardshell.

"Bulkhead, STOP!" Optimus yelled, holding the mech back from wringing Arcee's neck. Ratchet did the same with Arcee, knowing that each could take the other down. Bumblebee ran and hid in fear.

"TAKE IT BACK, ARCEE!" Bulk yelled from behind Optimus, trying desperately to free himself and slug the femme.

"Arcee, take it back!" Ratchet half-begged her, knowing an enraged Bulk was not a good thing. Just as he finished speaking, a noise caught everyone's attention; they all froze and saw that Raf and Jamie were staring in shock at them.

"Um…." Bulkhead started. Jamie just stared at them, confused and taken back a bit.

"… What. Are you. DOING?" she inquired. "Have you all lost your minds?"

Bulk pointed at Arcee. "She started it, Jamie! She was calling Wheelj-," he started to argue until he saw her bite her lower lip. Her sweatshirt sleeves were pushed up to her elbows, and her eyes were watering at the corners. Just the sound of that name reminded her of how the Christmas-Wrecker showed his true colors. Even Raf's comforting words were gone from her head. That sense of belonging that she desperately wanted, and the rejection she never wanted to feel again, made her forget all the sense that Rafael coaxed into her head.

"I don't want to ever hear that name said in front of me again. I'm going to bed. Good night, everyone…" she stated coldly and emotionlessly from the catwalk. Her words made the Autobots forget the anger between them. The sadness in their human comrade's eyes was enough to make them feel guilty. Jamie walked away silently, wiping away the streams that had developed on her cheeks to her room.

Optimus, Arcee, Bulkhead, and Ratchet all relaxed their postures. Raf looked at them all disapprovingly as he shook his head.

"You couldn't have put your arguments aside... at least for a while. I'm going to find Bumblebee; I'm going home. I'll see ya tomorrow… If I decide to come back after class." Raf made them feel even worse. As he started to look for 'Bee, he looked back at them sadly. "Try not to make this place any worse for her."

* * *

Jamie sat on her blue bed. Being who she was, she had a song for everything. When she listened to songs, they were fun to hear until she wasn't so happy. They took on a meaning to her when she was feeling hurt and sad**.**** I wish that I could cry, fall upon my knees; Find a way to lie 'bout a home I'll never see****…**** I'm only a man in a silly red sheet, digging for kryptonite on this one way street; only a man in a funny red sheet, looking for special things inside of me****.**As she repeated the words to herself in the privacy of her room, she turned a picture over in her hands. She looked at it, recalling how many hours of work she put into it after she was supposed to be asleep for countless days. Something that she wasn't even sure if she wanted to show anyone, let alone Wheeljack.

"He wouldn't have liked it anyway…" she said to herself, taking a last look at the picture. Being fortunate enough to get a picture of Wheeljack's hand while he was asleep, Jamie tried to draw it with her own in his. It didn't turn out too bad, but she couldn't see that. The sadness and self-pity blinded her from seeing anything. The paper was crumpled and crushed into a ball and thrown into the corner wastebasket, just like hundreds of failed drawings before it.

For hours, she sat there nice and still.

She checked her clock. 9:00. Bumblebee and Arcee were heading to recharge.

9:15. Bulkhead was out, too.

9:30. Optimus was literally pushed to his quarters and sent to bed like a five year old.

She waited until she watched Ratchet pass by her door through the keyhole to take off.

* * *

The Nemises floated high above the Earth's surface. Megatron paced back and forth, furious with his Decepticons' failure to stop the Wrecker and his human pet from escaping death.

"How is it that A HUMAN can outsmart MEGATRON, Dreadwing?! Tell me that!" he yelled at his second-in-command.

"I am unsure of this myself, my Lord. I do promise that I will have them found and brought to you, Megatron." Dreadwing responded calmly. As he spoke, a beeping came from the radar where Soundwave was positioned. Megatron approached his communications officer.

"What do we have here?... A Cybertronian signal. Perfect…" he snickered. This was exactly the thing that he needed to lure the Autobots to him. To take Wheeljack's spark in exchange for Hardshell's.

"Soundwave… Follow that signal. Do NOT let it leave this ship's detection," he commanded. Soundwave nodded silently in response to his leader.

* * *

The desert night sky was something that Jamie had always enjoyed. No matter how hard she tried, she could never stay upset for long when she just stared at the stars. As she stood alone on top of the mesa, something caught her.

"What the frick…?" she asked out loud. There was a star, but it was much brighter the rest… much brighter. Too bright to be an actual star. She squinted at it, watching it get brighter and brighter until it crashed into the Earth.

"Holy crap…" she said, staring at where it landed before sprinting back to the elevator.

"RATCHET! OPTIMUS!" she yelled from the moment the elevator doors opened again. Hurrying to alert them of what she just witnessed, Jamie jumped off of the catwalk and tucked and rolled upon impact of hitting the floor. Her racket woke Ratchet from recharge.

"What is it, Jamie?" he asked, half recharging, half awake.

"Dude, there was a meteor and it crashed, and that stupid computer of yours won't shut up!" she said, covering her ears as it beeped loudly. The beeping woke everyone else. Ratchet shuffled over to the computer to see what the cause of the alarm was.

"Optimus! We have a Cybertronian signal on Earth!" Ratchet informed the Prime as he came to see what was going on.

"Autobots, we must assemble and reach the Cybertronian before the Decepticons. Ratchet, can you Groundbridge us to the impact location's coordinants?" Optimus asked.

"Of course, Optimus," Ratchet replied.

"Arcee, Bumblebee, you will assist me. Bulkhead, you will remain here while we try to protect the Cybertronian."

"What? I don't want to be the benchwarmer! I can take 'em, Optimus, please!" Bulk begged.

"If Ratchet thinks you are fit enough, I will allow you to rendezvous with us there. Autobots, transform and roll out!" he exclaimed as Ratchet opened the Groundbridge. Just as Bulkhead was going to transform, Ratchet stopped him. The perfect time for Jamie to sneak into Bumblebee's passenger seat…

* * *

**Ugh... I need to find more inspiration for this book. Comments, anyone? Love to hear what you all have to say. :)**


	9. Chapter 9

Human Companionship  
After 'Triage'/ 'Toxicity'  
Transformers Prime  
**Jamie's thoughts  
**Smokescreen's thoughts

* * *

As Bulkhead watched the other four Autobots transform and take off into the Groundbridge, he sighed. The Wrecker hated being the only benchwarmer.

"Well, I guess that means just you and me, Mi-," he started, looking for Miko. She had disappeared on him. Again. "Miko?"

"Take that, Jack! I am the ruler of racing! How many times do I have to win before you'll realize that I'm never going to lose to you?" she said, having a glory moment. Jack just sighed and handed the remote to Raf. As soon as he did, the glory from Miko's face faded. "I'm dead now…" Short-lived joy for Miko.  
Bulk sighed.

"At least Jam-… Jamie? Hey, anyone seen Jamie? She was just here a minute ago," he asked the humans.

"Maybe she went back to bed or something," Miko suggested.

* * *

On the other side of the Bridge, Jamie squished herself against the floor of the yellow muscle car. She didn't expect Ratchet to tag along, and he was trailing behind Bumblebee. Great. Suddenly, the posse of 'bots pressed down on their breaks. Once they did, Jamie could feel Bumblebee shifting. **Crap! Crap! Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap! What the frag am I supposed to do NOW?!**

"It is of Decepticon origin, Autobots." Optimus looked at the long pool of Energon leading up to an escape pod from Cybertron. The faction symbol was vibrant and red on the side.

"And whoever was in it chewed themselves out," Arcee added, moving closer to investigate and examine it. The large exit that was created was very apparent. The two-wheeler cautiously peered inside, but as she did, a rain of Decepticon fire was upon them. Jamie overheard everything. Her heart started to speed up in it's beating.

"Autobots! Return fire!" Optimus called. The Decepticons kept firing at their enemies. Bumblebee and Arcee dove behind a pair of boulders for cover. There were at least seven or eight 'Cons and one pod.

"All those 'cons in one pod?" Arcee asked herself out loud.

"Humans have a term for such a phenomenon, Arcee…" Ratchet replied. He was followed by a shouted reply.

"It's called a clown-car effect!" Everyone looked at the source of the voice; Bumblebee's chest. The scout's optics widened as he looked down to his chest at the sound of pounding from the inside. "Open up and let me out already, Bumblebee! It's hard enough to breathe with limited oxygen without out you stalling!"

"Jamie?!" Ratchet asked in a shout as the human climbed out of Bumblebee's chest compartment. Optimus's opponent, the only survivor from Wheeljack's Insecticon massacre, saw her in the corner of his optic.

"Yes, Jamie! I hitch-hiked in 'Bee! Get over it!" she yelled, out of breath.

"Decepticons! The human!" the Insecticon yelled just before Optimus shot him at point-blank range in the chest. As he fell, another charged him and reached the same fate.

"Holy crap… that's a lot of 'cons ta kill…" Jamie said, her eyes wide and jaw dropped, as she stood next to Optimus's foot. Her voice surprised him.

"Jamie, what are you doing here?" he asked, looking away for the battle field for just a moment.

"Fight now, ask questions later, Optimus. We got a lot of fight ahead of us… and looks like Megatron came to crash the party," Jamie replied, looking afraid. Megatron was on the other side of the crash, and he was looking directly at her with menacing red optics.

"Jamie, stay back with Ratchet and Bumblebee…" Optimus instructed, feeling the glare Megatron had on Jamie. He drew his swords. She fell back to Bee.

"Optimus! To your left!" Ratchet yelled, spotting movement it the few trees nearby. Everyone looked to the left.

A mech of mostly white, but with some blue and red as well, was engaging the enemy with his guns blazing. He had doorwings that made Jamie think of a rabbit's ears, oddly enough.

"Incoming!" Arcee called, taking a defensive pose, fearing he was a Decepticon.

"Down in front!" the mech called back, still firing at the 'cons as he charged them. Running past Bee, Jamie, and Arcee, he seemed to showboat a bit and leaped onto a 'con, crushing him to scraps. The Autobots just stared as he shot down a good number of Vehicons on his own, but there were still many of them waiting to deploy at Megatron's order.

As he wiped out the last of the Vehicons, only one enemy stood in front of him; an Insecticon. His shell deflected every shot the mech fired, and he looked poised to kill him. Desperately, the Autobot friendly shot wildly at the Insecticon, and one shot struck the Energon from the crash pod.

"Fall back and take cover!" Optimus yelled. Bumblebee suddenly picked up Jamie and ran. Arcee and Ratchet followed. The Energon lit like kerosene, and the yells of terror and fright from the Decepticons was soon drowned out. As the team of Autobots hid behind a barrier of boulders, the Energon exploded. Jamie wasn't expecting the blast, and went it went off, the sound made her ears pop. She became disoriented and confused, but nobody noticed. Not with the new guy showboating.

"Woo! Too hot for ya, 'cons?" the mech exclaimed as he stood at the ground that was still slightly in flames. Bumblebee put Jamie down as he followed the others to where the mech stood.

"Friend of yours, 'Bee?" Ratchet asked, annoyed. Bumblebee shook his head.

"Same here," Arcee said as he looked to her.

"Torching the Energon leak- great plan, huh?" the mech asked with a smirk. He was met with a glare from the two-wheeler.

"Plan?! That wasn't a plan- that was a stray shot you made! That explosion could've killed us all!"

"But it didn't. Worked out fine for us, see?" he replied, pointing to the retreating Decepticons.

"Thank you," Optimus cut in. The mech turned at the sound of his voice, and his optics widened like a kid in a candy store. "Your…_valor_ is to be commended, fellow Autobot."

"Y-y-you're Optimus PRIME! I don't believe this! He's Optimus PRIME!" he said in shock and surprise, turning to the other three Autobots.

"Yes, yes; we know," they all said, Bumblebee beeping it, of course.

"Soldier, give me your name, please," Optimus continued. The mech instantly stood up straight and saluted the Prime.

"Smokescreen, Sir!" he replied loudly. Optimus noticed the symbol on the side of his shoulders.

"Welcome, Smokescreen. Welcome to Earth."

"Thank you, Sir. It's an honor." Smokescreen continued to stand tall, which allowed Optimus to take note of his Elite Guard insignia.

"I see you received your training from Cybertron's Elite Guard, Smokescreen."

"Yeah, but it was more like boot camp. I always wanted to fight for the Autobot cause, kick some 'con aft, but instead of graduating and fighting, I got my insignia and shoved to security detail in Iacon." He looked at the mech before him as he spoke. Optimus was slightly surprised that of all places this mech was placed, he was placed in the Hall of Records… where he started as Orion Pax.

"What were your duties there, Smokescreen?"

"Guarding Alpha Trion at the end of the war." Smokescreen looked away. "I didn't think much of him to start, but the big A turned out to be a good friend and teacher. It wasn't the best job, but having him as a friend made it better. He was the mech who told Halogen to name you the next Prime" he said shrugging. As Optimus was about to ask another question, Ratchet beat him to it.

"Optimus, what are we supposed to do with him now? We can't leave him here, but it's not like we can take him back to base, either." Arcee added to his statement.

"And it wouldn't be the first time an 'ally' turned into a plant, Optimus." She crossed her arms as she spoke. Smokescreen gave the two wheeler a dirty look in reply.

Jamie was still a bit shaken from the huge blast; she came out from behind the boulder barrier with her hands on top of her head. Arcee was the first to notice her.

"Jamie! Are you okay? Hurt? Anything?" she questioned as Ratchet followed behind her. Jamie shook her head.

"I think I'm okay… Seriously, Arcee, I'm fine," Jamie protested as Arcee gave her hand so she could sit and rest a bit.

"Let me take a look at you at least, Jamie," Ratchet suggested. Arcee strongly agreed with him; it was very apparent in her face.

"Fine… go ahead. It's not like I can decide for myself if I'm fine or not," She huffed her statement and threw in some sarcasm for good measures. Ratchet rolled his optics and did a general exam of the girl.

Smokescreen just stared at the life form that, in his optics, was alien. Wow… it's so small, but it seems like it can handle itself. Pretty durable for something that isn't like we Autobots, he said to himself. Without thinking, his mouth blabbed off without his say-so.

"Optimus, sir, what is that?" he asked. Jamie, surprisingly, didn't even seem to hear him.

"That is one of our allies of Earth. The dominant species on this planet are designated 'humans', and each has their own designation. The one you see before you is our ally, Jamie. She is one of us, Smokescreen," the red mech explained. Smokescreen just looked at Jamie.

"Can they fight- these humans?"

"Anything sentient has the ability to fight, Smokescreen."

"You check out, Jamie. Nothing seems to be malfunctioning or anything." Jamie had a breath of relief.

"Told you I was fine, Arcee," she said, crossing her arms with a cocky little smirk.

"Autobots, we must leave here before the Decepticons return," Optimus called.

"You mean, IF they comeback, right?" Jamie asked. "I don't think Megatron glared at me because he wants me to be his best friend."

Megatron's glare was still fresh in her mind. His red optics were like daggers in their ability to pierce into one's heart and soul. The way it felt would have been enough; Jamie could feel the darkness in his spark just with the way he looked at her. Optimus had felt his former brother's hatred for his human ally as well as she did. Megatron wanted Jamie in his grasp for reasons unknown to him, but whatever they were, he knew Megatron's intentions weren't good.

"Rafael, open the Ground Bridge," Optimus commanded, comm. linking home base. "Autobots, transform and roll out. We are returning to base. Jamie, you will return with Smokescreen. I want you to 'show him around' when we return." Jamie turned and looked at Smokescreen, who had no vehicle mode to transform into. She sighed.

"Sure, Optimus… Let's go, Smokey-boy. We're going home," she said with a tone that was mixed with sadness and a bit of embarrassment. "Please, Primus, don't let Miko be doing leg lifts with Bulkhead again."

"Who're Bulkhead and Miko, um… what was your name again?" Smokescreen asked sheepishly. Jamie smacked herself in the face.

"Jamie… My name's Jamie. Bulkhead's a Wrecker, and Miko is his human charge," she said, fixing her ponytail just like she did when she got annoyed or nervous. Smokescreen just nodded in response, following the small human through the portal before them as the other Autobots drove in before her.

As soon as Jamie and Smokescreen reached the end of the Ground Bridge, their ears and audios were pounded by Miko's Slash Monkey CD. Everyone else had already covered their ears while Miko jammed out. Smokescreen was taken aback by the noise that Miko called music, and Jamie just plugged her ears and led the rookie to meet the rest of the team.

"MIKO, KILL THE SLASH MONKEY! WE GOT A NEW GUY ON THE TEAM!" Jamie yelled at the top of her lungs. It always seemed to be that Miko would only hear Jamie's voice when she had her music cranked all the way up. The Japanese rocker-to-be ran over to her stereo and turned the music down.

"Hey, Jamie! Who's the newbie?" She asked from the balcony. Everyone sighed gratefully as their audio receptors and ears could relax. Jamie unplugged her ears as well.

"Miko, this is Smokescreen. He crashed out in the woods today. He's pretty cool," she replied, turning to the said mech. "Smokescreen, this is Miko," she told him. Smokescreen waved briefly at her as Jamie spotted her headphones.

"Miko, do you know if Jack was using my headphones?" she asked with a scowl. Miko nodded.

"Yep, he's snooping around in your room with Raf," she said, joining Jamie and Smokey on the floor.

"Great," she said, huffing. Towing Smokey with her, Jamie stormed off towards her own room. "Smokey, stay here for a minute," she commanded, opening her door to see Jack going through her few personal possessions.

As Smokescreen stood outside, a few yelps of surprise came from the room, followed by something falling.

"Tap out, Jackson! Tap out!" Jamie yelled. He did. "Now, stay out!" He was shoved out the door as she yelled. Raf followed, but was kindly escorted out.  
"Raf… come in here again with Jack, and someone's going to be Triangle choked…" she said with a nice little smirk. She closed the door behind her and locked it, then looked to Smokescreen. "Shall we start the tour now, big guy?" she asked, smiling as if nothing happened.

* * *

Megatron was very, VERY, mad at the time and effort his troops wasted. He punched a wall in his anger.

"That human... that was not the one called Miko. This one was different. WHY DIDN'T WE CAPTURE HER?!" He was basically toasting Dreadwing's audio receptors with his shouting.

"I am unsure, my lord. I promise, though, that we WILL capture her. You have my word," the Decepticon SIC responded.

"Best that you do, Dreadwing. If you don't, it will be your spark at risk..."

* * *

**Finally! Update! Took me forever...**


	10. Chapter 10

**Human Companionship**  
**Transformers Prime**  
**After 'Triage'/ 'Toxicity'**  
**Chapter 9****  
**

* * *

Days had gone by without a sign of Decepticon activity, and those days added up to weeks, and those weeks added up to a month. A month without a sign from the Decepticons was rare, and usually would have put the Autobots on edge, but nobody seemed to notice. It was as if they had all forgotten the war all together. As if there was no war. All because of Jamie and Smokescreen - Jamie was finally herself again.

Smokescreen was exactly what Jamie needed to forget what happened when Wheeljack left. He was a mech who knew how to have a good time, and most days after school, Jamie would walk out the main doors to see Smokey waiting for her.  
"Ready to go on an adventure with your ol' pal Smokey?" he would most often say. That was all it took for Jamie to put aside her homework for a while and just ride out into the Nevada desert. As each day passed, all the Autobots could see that Jamie didn't feel so depressed anymore, and for the most part, if their human friends were happy, so were the Autobots.

* * *

Smokescreen felt like going for a drive before the humans were dismissed from their learning sessions, so he headed to the northeast area of the state. About half an hour into his drive, the scenery began to change. Instead of so much sand, vegetation began to infest the landscape. It was an interesting change for the Autobot, considering that he had never bothered to see what anything other than Jasper looked like on the humans' world. Suddenly, he detected an energy spike in the area - just what a rookie needed to cause trouble. Smokescreen called into base.

"Smokescreen to base - found an energy spike. Gonna follow it. Smokescreen out," he reported in before chasing the trail of the energy signal. The signature was indentified as Energon, but when Smokey reached the signature's location, all he found was a hole. A big hole. A big hole about 30 feet deep. He had no choice but to climb into it.  
"What the..? Energon... already boxed for transport?" He said as he reached the bottom of the hole, which he concluded was anything but naturally created. About 80 crates of Energon rested in the bottom of the hole, and Smokescreen knew something was fishy.

"Smokescreen to base, come in base... Anyone copy? Frag. Signal's scrapped from down here," the mech said. As soon as he did, the light of the sun vanished, causing the mech to look up. The Nemisis sat, lingering, directly above Smokescreen. In attempt to escape the scene, the mech tried to climb back out of the hole. That plan backfired. A loose rock in the soil wall of the deep pit gave way when Smokey grasped it, causing him to lose his grip and fall face-first onto the crates of Energon below him, knocking him out. Little did he know that the Decepticons had sent down a cargo pick-up tube down as he fell.

* * *

Jamie, Jack, Miko, and Raf walked out of class together as the bell rang. With their lockers all right nest to each other, they all threw in their algebra books into their backpacks - except Raf since he finished in class - and headed for the door. The sun shone on the four of them as they walked out in a line together. And just like always, their rides were waiting for them in front of the school... Except Smokescreen. Jamie looked up and down the street, thinking that maybe Smokey just didn't park behind 'Bee like he usually did, but he was nowhere nearby.

"Hey, 'Bee, where's Smokescreen? I don't see him anywhere on this street," Jamie asked as she approached the Autobot Scout. She was met with beeps and whirrs that were indecipherable to her.  
"Raf, translate," she demanded once Bumblebee finshed speaking.  
"He said that nobody's heard from him since about noon today. He seems to have just dropped off the face of the planet," he explained. "Come on, hop in. Maybe Ratchet's pinpointed him by now."

* * *

Smokescreen woke up with a slight headache. The fall had knocked him out cold, and he knew that hours had probably passed since then. Blinking a few times to focus his vision, Smokey looked around to see where he was. His optics widened when he spotted the large purple Decepticon symbol on the wall to his left. That was when he also realized that the Decepticons had found him and taken him prisoner.

"Frag... How am I gonna get out of this one?" he asked himself out loud, trying to yank his arms free from the shackles unsuccessfully. It was the same story with his legs - chained tight as a dog's choke collar. Finally, he tried to comm link base.  
"Smokescreen to Autobot base... anyone copy?" He was met with static. "Great... Now I'm really stuck now," he stated, looking at his chest. Each Autobot's insignias were enabled to activate a distress signal when they were pressed in for five seconds, and at that point, it was the only thing that Smokescreen had to save his chassis while he was helplessly chained up by his wrists and ankles. He arked his neck and pushed his chin into his chest as he looked for the insignia. After a few tries, he finally found it. With all his strenght, the mech pushed his chin into the insignia button for as long as he could until it began to flash in a timed pattern.

"Oh, thank Primus..." Smokey said, sighing in relief. "Now, for someone to rescue me..."

* * *

Jamie rode back to base with Bumblebee and Raf, the whole time freaking out in her mind. Smokescreen was never late to pick her up, and if he wasn't at the base, she had no idea where he would be. In the back of her mind, the thought that he had taken off like Wheeljack had... it lingered back there, but she knew in her heart that he wouldn't ever leave her. She had faith in Smokescreen, and somehow, she still had faith in Wheeljack, too, but she didn't know why he deserved it.

"Ratchet! Where's Smokescreen?" she asked as she flung her backpack violently into the nearby wall, which put a crack in it, but nobody noticed.

"I'm not sure... he didn't pick you up from school today?' he asked, taken aback. Jamie shook her head worriedly.

"He's never late... I don't know why he didn't show up," she replied. Ratchet thought to himself for a few seconds before he activated the distress signal frequency channel.

"If he needs assistance, he would have activated his distress signal by now," the medi-bot explained without looking at Jamie.

"Wait, you guys have built-in Life Alert systems?"

Ratchet turned around.

"... We have WHAT built in?"

* * *

Wheeljack was basically burying himself in intergalactic television and high grade Energon. After his place in the Wreckers' ranks was in jeopardy before the Great War broke out, Wheeljack had dropped his high grade addiction. Now that there were only two of them left, and that he didn't know what else to do, he picked up the habit again. He almost never actually flew himself anywhere anymore - he knew he was too drunk to do so - so Autopilot just flew him around in space, but never actually went anywhere. Wheeljack had nowhere to go.

The Wrecker was sitting in a spare, tattered chair in front of his monitor. There was an interesting soap opera on, and he had grown to enjoy it. It actually became his favorite program after the first half hour of watching it. He didn't quite understand it all the time - no thanks to the high grade - but it was addicting. He sat watching a marathon of this show with a cube of high grade in his left hand and his right hand just hung off the side of his chair. Wheeljack was just downright pathetic.

The mech went to have a swig of his Energon during a dramatic scene; the humans were idly fretting over a plane crash.

"Heh... pathetic. I could... totally... save them humans..." he said, hiccuping. Out of nowhere, a loud and annoying beeping went off in the ship. A beep that never went off - a distress call. Wheeljack spilled half of his cube of Energon when he jumped in surprise of the alarm, screaming briefly like a little girl. Quickly, he gathered himself together to see where the distress call was originating from, wiping the spilled liquid off of his chest.

"SHUT UP!" he commanded the Jackhammer, but it just kept beeping, so he got up in annoyance and manually shut it off. Once the incesant beeping stopped, Wheeljack looked at the tracking monitor, and the mech dropped his Enegon cube. _Jasper... Nevada... Jamie!_

* * *

"Arcee, you and Bumblebee will rendezvous to Smokescreen's last known location. Ratchet, you and I shall search east of here in the next few cities. Bulkhead, stay here and man the Ground Bridge, understood?" Optimus's voice thundered. Each of the Autobots nodded in understandment. Jamie butted in.

"And me, Optimus? If you're all looking for Smokey, I want to help, too," she explained with a serious look on her face.

"Jamie, you need to remain here with Miko, Jack, Raf, and Bulkhead. I understand you want to help, but it is safer for you to remain here where Bulkhead can keep you protected," he replied, just as serious as Jamie.

"Bu-,"

"Stay here, Jamie..."

"But I-!"

"Jamie..." Optimus said, giving her a look that she knew so well - the look of 'don't question me, just do it'. Jamie sighed, giving in to the fight.

"Fine... I'll stay here, Optimus." And Jamie did. She stayed in her room until she was sure the four Autobots left.

* * *

It hadn't been long since Optimus and the others had gone looking for Smokescreen. Jamie sat right by the large computer systems in the silo, waiting. She waited for something she wasn't even sure of what it was. As far as she knew, Ratchet had left the distress frequency channel up, and if Smokescreen was calling for help, something - Jamie didn't know what - was supposed to happen. About 15 minutes had passed when she found out.

The computer started beeping so obnoxiously and loud that it made Jamie jump. It got everyone else's attention, too. Bulkhead, followed by the other humans, ran as fast as they could to the entrance room of the silo. When they got there, Bulkhead caught sight of a Ground Bridge closing, and he saw no Jamie.

"Oh frag... I am so dead!" Bulkhead exclaimed, turning off the beeping. He looked at Jack, Miko, and Raf, seeing that they all knew where Jamie was as well. "What now?"

"Oh, I don't know... CALL OPTIMUS AND LET HIM KNOW, BULK!" Miko yelled.

"Right, tell Optimus... Bulkhead to Optimus Prime, do you copy?"

"Bulkhead, this is Optimus. What's your status?"

"Jamie... She managed to open a Ground Bridge on Smokescreen's location. We only had it for a few seconds, so they could be anywhere now."

* * *

Jamie walked through the portal to the other side. She was going to find Smokescreen, one way or another. As she reached the other side of the bridge, she was instantly filled with fear, though. She had walked right into the hallway of the Decepticon warship.

"Oh frag... I'm gonna freaking die today," she said to herself in a whisper. Gulping, she started down the hall in search of Smokescreen.

* * *

Wheeljack had traced the signal to the Nemisis, and he decided to find the source. If there was any chance at all that it was Jamie, he was going to find out. He was going to set things right with Jamie. He steathily snuck past guard after guard, following the distress signal while silently praying it was Jamie on the other end.

* * *

The four Autobots immediately returned to base when Bulkhead informed them that Jamie escaped. They needed a plan, and they needed one quickly. They all knew both Smokescreen and Jamie's lives were in the balance, and even though Smokey was cocky, not even Arcee wanted Smokescreen to stay out of the Autobot picture.

* * *

Jamie had been down so many halls that she wasn't even sure which halls she had been down before. Each corridor looked completely identical to the one before it, so Jamie just decided to start walking down each one and peeking into each doorway she came across - if she could, that was.

After about eight corridors, Jamie was getting frusturated with herself. She was getting absolutely nowhere in her search for Smokescreen, and it was making her a bit angry. She reached a door and tried to open it, but it was stuck. Her stubborness got the better of her, and so Jamie tugged and yanked and pulled on the door. No matter what she did, though, the door wouldn't budge.

"Stupid... door!" she whispered loudly to herself as she tried to pry the door open. When it didn't work, she stood staring at the door for a few moments before she violently kicked it. Surprisingly, the kick was all the door needed to open.

"Oh... awesome!" she said, walking into the doorway. The room was so big, and because Jamie was an observer by nature, she couldn't help but look all around the room.

"Jamie? Is that you?" a voice called from the darkness, startling Jamie a bit. Out of the darkness Jamie could see a pair of bright blue optics.

"Smokey?" she inquired in reply.

"Jamie? What are you doing here? Can ya help me out of these restraints?" Smokey's voice called out from the dark again. At the sound of his voice, Jamie felt a wave of relief.

"Thank God I found you, Smokescreen! I was all freaking out when you weren't there to pick me up today. Let's see what I can do about your shackles," she replied, running toward him.

"Great. There should be a ring of keys over to my left. The last guard that came by left them by accident," he said, tilting his helm toward the keys. Jamie ran over to the key ring, feeling the extreme heaviness of a giant robot's ring of keys.

"Which one?" she asked, dragging them towards Smokescreen.

* * *

Wheeljack was nearing the signal quickly, and he was about 50 feet away when he saw distant motion in front of him. The Wrecker took cover and drew his swords just in case it was a squad of nasties, which he really didn't feel like dealing with. Carefully peeking around the corner, at first he didn't see anything, but then he recognized a very familiar sweatshirt.

"Jamie?" he called out from the darkness. The human instantly turned around at the sound of her name, and so did her guardian.

"Jamie, it's me - Wheeljack," he called out again, quickly walking toward her, but as he did, he saw the same eyes that met him when he left her alone.

"W-wheeljack? Is that you?" was the reply he got. The Wrecker nodded.

"It's me, Jamie. It's Wheeljack. I'm so sorry for everything I did to you, but I-"

Wheeljack stopped speaking as soon as he saw Smokescreen. He looked from him to Jamie, and then back. By the look on her face, Wheeljack knew that she had pushed him out of her life and replaced him with the fresh fish behind her. He should have known that Jamie would have moved on after what he had done.

* * *

**Cliffhanger! Sorry that I haven't updated recently. I just couldn't figure out where I wanted to go next. Thanks a lot to Ninja School Dropout for giving me a push in the right direction! :)**


	11. Chapter 11

Human Companionship- Chapter 10  
Transformers Prime  
After 'Triage'/ 'Toxicity'

* * *

**A/N; Oh my God... Sorry for the _extremely _long wait, but writer's block was to blame. I just couldn't think of anything whatsoever!... and maybe I was a bit lazy in writing. Anyways, enough with my rambling. R&R, peeps!**

* * *

Jamie held her gaze on Wheeljack, the tears slowly welling up in her hazel eyes as she did. Wheeljack just stared back in some form of shock – whether it be from being drunk still and seeing Jamie, or from the realization that what he had done was no longer repairable in Jamie's heart.

"I-I'm sorry, Jamie… I really am… but I know you can no longer forgive me," he said, looking at the floor. Jamie watched as the mech who seemed to be invincible to all outside forces began to crumble under his horrible mistakes. Inside, she felt a piece of herself die slightly when she watched Wheeljack as he leaned against the wall and rubbed his optics.

"Wheeljack…" she said, taking a few steps towards him. The mech looked up at the sound of his name, and as soon as he did, the crack of a single gunshot shook the air. Wheeljack cried out in pain as he fell to the floor. Dreadwing held his hip-resting cannon with a wild look on his face.

"Finally… the one I have been waiting for… Jamie is the name, isn't it?" he asked with a wicked smile on his face.

"Jamie, get behind me!" Smokescreen said, deploying his own guns with a fierce expression. Jamie stood frozen where she stood as she continued staring at Wheeljack's motionless frame.

"Wheeljack, get up!" she yelled after a few seconds, running to his side. "Wheeljack, get up! Get up, frag you!" she screamed. Dreadwing saw this as an invaluable moment to finally complete his mission given months before.

"You're mine now, human…" he said in a cold and intimidating voice as his cannon charged up before it fired. Smokescreen predicted his movement before the Decepticon had even thought of them.

"I don't think so, you walking scrapheap!" he screamed in response, leaping toward his midsection to tackle him. Just as he did, the cannon fired. The shot hit the ceiling instead of Jamie, and Smokescreen started throwing multiple punches at his opponent's faceplates.

"That's what you get for trying to hurt Jamie!" he said as he threw a fist into Dreadwing's left optic. The Decepticon yelled out in fear, which echoed through the ship, and all the way to Megatron's audios.  
"We seem to have a pest problem… take care of it at once." Megatron commanded Soundwave without meeting optic to optic with the muted Decepticon. He nodded and pressed a single button to deploy a troop of Vehicons.

"Wheeljack… please – you have to get up. Please… I don't know what I'd do if I never saw you again after today. Just wake up for me," she pleaded with his motionless frame. A few tears slid down her face as she pleaded, which landed on the side of Wheeljack's helm.

"J-Jamie… Don't be sorry. J-Just es-scape… Get out while you st-still have the ch-ch-chance…" he spoke in a scratchy and weakened voice.

"No… Not without my mechs," she countered.

"Then get h-him to stop long enough to esc-cape with you," he replied sadly.

"You didn't hear me… I said my mechs. Not one mech, but two, you dumb aft," she said, smiling as she put her hand on his cool cheek. "You…I need you and Smokescreen. Now that I have you back, I won't ever let you go. I don't care if it's only for a day. You and I are still like this," she said, showing him her index and middle fingers that were now crosses tightly. "And we always will be."

Wheeljack smiled weakly at Jamie. "Forever, my little Jamie… For… ever…" he said, fading out on the last part. Just at that moment, a portal opened behind the Wrecker and his close comrade. Optimus and Ratchet, along with Bee and Arcee, had finally arrived.

"Jamie, return to base through the portal, now!" Optimus ordered as he exited the Bridge. Jamie didn't hear a word he said.

His faceplates had gotten much colder than usual. His optics wouldn't online. He didn't move a digit.  
"Wheeljack….?" Jamie whispered as she bit her lower lip while it quivered. Ratchet quickly approached the two of them.

"Jamie, I need you to move aside for a moment please," he said as he knelt down beside Jamie. She freaked out as soon as he spoke.

"WHEELJACK!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, latching herself to her his neck. The scream brought Smokey back to reality from repeatedly putting dents in Dreadwing's face. The mech quickly spun his head, and once he did, Dreadwing saw the opportunity to escape. He bucked Smokescreen off balance to free his legs, and once he did, he sent the rookie flying as he shoved him away with his feet.

Arcee ran to Ratchet and Wheeljack while Bumblebee ran to Smokescreen's side. She saw the large blast hole in Wheeljack's back, and it was filling with Energon in such large quantities that there wasn't enough flowing to his processor. The sight of so much Energon made Arcee sick to her stomach.

Jamie was still clutching the Wrecker's neck when Arcee noticed her.

* * *

"Unfortunately, this is where you say good-bye to your precious Jamie, Autobot…" Dreadwing said, approaching Smokescreen as he lay on the floor with his powerful cannon resting at his hip. "Any last words, you scum?" he asked. Smokescreen just looked back up into Dreadwing's pure red optics.

"Now, Bumblebee!" he exclaimed, and as soon as he did, Bumblebee jumped on Dreadwing's back and wrapped his arms around his neck as tight as he could. The Decepticon was taken by surprise, and he instantly dropped his gun to pry Bumblebee off of his throat. As he did, though, Smokescreen took the opportunity to end the fight – as the humans say – the old Navy way.

Jamie didn't fight Arcee when she had grabbed her off of Wheeljack's neck. She was still trying to figure out what was really going on. She didn't want to think that Wheeljack was dead, but she knew it was unlikely he was still alive. Given the two options, she didn't know which one she was supposed to believe.  
Smokescreen scooped up the gun without hesitation.

"Bumblebee, look out!" he screamed as he shoved Dreadwing into the nearest wall, Bumblebee jumping off to avoid being squished into the wall as well.

"This ends here, Dreadwing…" and he pulled the trigger, forming a hole in his chest. The Decepticon fell to the floor – Smokescreen knew he was dead. He looked behind him to see the Vehicons approach, steeping in sync the whole way to the fight.

"Autobots, take out the Vehicons!" Optimus thundered. "Distract them long enough for us to get Wheeljack back through the portal!"

"We're on it, Prime!" Bulkhead and Smokey said together, Bumblebee nodding instead of beeping. The three of them took out the Decepticon foot soldiers one by one with ease. Ratchet and Optimus dragged Wheeljack's frame through the portal quickly with Arcee following close behind as she carried Jamie through.

"Bulk, Bee, Smokey! Let's get out of here!" Arcee called before she followed Prime and Ratchet through the portal.

"That's our cue, boys! Let's get out of here!" Bulkhead shouted as he punched a Vehicon right in the face before scrambling off. The other two mechs did the same.


	12. Chapter 12

Human Companionship – Chapter 11  
Transformers Prime  
After 'Triage'/'Toxicity'  
**Jamie's thoughts  
**_Wheeljack's thoughts_

* * *

**A/N: New chapter! Finally! Lyrics are from 'Let Her Go' by Passenger and 'Can't Hold Us' by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.  
R&R, peeps! Few little language slip-ups, too...**

* * *

**Well you only need the light when it's burning low,**

**Only miss the sun when it starts to snow,**

**Only know you love her when you let her go, **

**Only know you've been high when you're feeling low,**

**Only hate the road when you're missing home,**

**Only know you love her when you let her go…**

**And you let her go.**

Jamie watched as Optimus and Ratchet heaved Wheeljack up onto the medical berth as he continued to bleed. The two instantly began hooking the mech up to monitors to track his spark signature. She never wanted to have to see the color fade from him, or his optics remain forever offlined, or hear the sound of the flat lined spark monitor. She couldn't find the strength to handle those things. Not again, not after her mom died. She raced to the catwalk above her Wrecker.

"Frag, the mech's lost about as much as he can afford, Optimus. Get a pump to collect the pooling Energon from the wound; I have to weld his superior vena cava back together- it's cutting off the flow to his processor!" Ratchet said as he began grabbing various tools to perform the on-site repair. At the same time, Optimus was standing on the far side of Wheeljack's frame, the side farther from the wound, as he began to vacuum out the excess Energon to allow Ratchet work more easily.

Jamie couldn't do anything but watch from above. She didn't notice Smokescreen and Bulkhead emerge from the portal as it closed. All she could see was the amount of Energon increase with great speed in the container attached to the Energon pump Optimus was handling. All she could hear was the slow beep from the spark monitor as Ratchet tried to reach the broken vein before it was too late. It was then that she realized that his Energon had ended up on her shirt and the palms of her hands. She turned them over to look at her palms that were now sticky and blue. Her lip began to quiver. Her eyes started to water. It was hard to breathe. At the sight of the Energon, Jamie was hit with a blast of worry and hopelessness. It pushed her over the edge; she started to cry. She hadn't really cried over anything in such a long time, she forgot how it felt to be weak, vulnerable. She hated it… but it was the only thing she could feel inside her. She fell to her to her knees on the catwalk, her hands resting on her thighs in fists, and her forehead rested on the top of her fists. She bit her lip as she felt the warm water slide down the side of her face before falling onto her side.

**Staring at the bottom of your glass,**

**Hoping one day you'll make a dream last,**

**But dreams come slow and they go so fast.**

**You see her when you close your eyes,**

**Maybe one day you'll understand why,**

**Everything you touch surely dies.**

* * *

Wheeljack didn't know where he was. He remembered the shot, the pain, Jamie… but he looked around himself; there was nothing. He was in a darkness of some sorts.

"What the frag is this…? Is this some kind of weird dream… or am I dead?" he asked the darkness. "I…I can't be dead…"

"Wheeljack…" a voice came from the darkness. It sounded familiar, but at the same time, he knew he had never heard it in his life.

"Who said my name?"

"Wheeljack, the time has come."

"What? Who are you? What do you mean 'the time has come'?"

"Wheeljack, the time has come for you to join the Well of Allsparks. You have fought with courage and bravery in your existence, but now it is time for you to stop fighting. It is time for you to come home," the voice said sympathetically. Wheeljack couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"No… it can't be. Not yet…" he said, taking a few steps backwards. At that moment, he heard a whispered voice. It wasn't the voice he was talking to… it was a much more familiar and recognizable.

"Wheeljack… please… just come back to me," it said.

"Jamie," Wheeljack said, his eyes widening as the sight of Jamie lying on the balcony appeared before him. Her Monster shirt was covered in what he imagined was his Energon, as were her jeans and black Converse. He knelt down by her, only to find it wasn't really her. He wanted to comfort her, to tell her he was okay, but she was a phantom in this darkness he was trapped in. She couldn't hear him no matter how loud he shouted, or feel him no matter how close he stood to her.

"It is what the human is doing at this moment in the material world, Wheeljack. She cannot feel you in any way. We are between that world and the 'after-life' world at the moment."

Wheeljack inhaled deeply in anger before standing up. His servos formed into fists, and he gritted his denta.

"You know what? She isn't just any human, whoever you are. Her name is Jamie, and she needs me. I finally see that she needs me now even more than she needed me before. She needed me before, and I walked away like a coward. I'm not doing that again, so let's cut the slag- I'm not going with you. I have ties back home – my real home – and the last thing any of them need is me to be dead, so I can't go with you. I won't."

The voice hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"This is what I expected of you, my son. Most are afraid of entering, or accepting of it, but very few can stare me down and reject the idea. They are the few that are direct descendants of me… of Primus. You have made me proud, Wheeljack. You are right, you need to return home. You are a unique mech, and most don't get this second chance from me as you are now. Go now, return to Jamie. It looks as if Ratchet has finished repairing you," the voice said as it manifested itself in a visible form. Wheeljack was at a loss for words as Primus stood before him. He looked down at Wheeljack and smiled.

"Go, Wheeljack. They need you…"

_'Cause you only need the light when it's burning low,_

_Only miss the sun when it starts to snow,_

_Only know you love her when you let her go,_

_Only know you've been high when you're feeling low,_

_Only hate the road when you're missing home,_

_Only know you love her when you let her go…_

_And you let her go._

* * *

"Come on, Wheeljack… wake up," Ratchet said, holding the defibrillator paddles. No reaction. "Okay, crank it up to 40,000 volts!" he shouted as he rubbed the two paddles together. He then placed them on Wheeljack's torso – one above his spark to the right, and the other below and to the left.

"CLEAR!"

The medic shocked the Wrecker one last time. The frame jumped up with the powerful charge, and his spark had jumpstarted once more into it's normal rhythm. The steady beeping reached Jamie's ears, and she slowly raised her head.

"Ratchet?"

"Jamie, Wheeljack is stable now… You can come down now," he said with a slight smile as he wiped off his servos. "Keep an eye on him; I need to wash up, okay?"

Jamie nodded as she sniffled with a smile. "Okay, Ratch."

* * *

"_Here we go back, this is the moment. Tonight is the night, we'll fight 'til it's over, so we put our hands up like the ceiling can't hold us…Like the ceiling can't hold us. Here we go back, this is the moment. Tonight is the night, we'll fight 'til it's over, so we put our hands up like the ceiling can't hold us… Like the ceiling can't hold us."_

_What the frag is that noise?_

Wheeljack slowly onlined his optics. His vision was blurry, and the mech was instantly blinded by the shop lights above him. The Wrecker groaned from the intensity before a familiar face was right in his.

"Wheeljack! Oh my God, you're finally up!"

"J-jamie? Is that y-you?"

"Noooo, I'm the damn pizza delivery kid. Of course it's me!" She smiled.

"Hey, kid… nice to see you again," Wheeljack said in a soft, weak voice. "Hey… you didn't have those glasses before."

Jamie looked away. "Yeah… apparently my vision sucks. I had them ordered a couple days before the whole Decepticon-ship incident… just came in yesterday."

"You look good. Maybe next time, you should get some that ha-" Wheeljack said before Jamie showed him the sides of them. He smiled; they had Italy's colors on them close to the lenses, as well as the Autobot insignia right next to the red, white, and green stripes.

"Had them custom made. Wanted to keep my Wrecker close," Jamie said, crawling onto his chest and wrapping her arms around his neck. "I missed you, Wheeljack… I'm sorry."

"Kid, you got nothing to be sorry for. If I hadn't left like I did, none of this would have happened. This is all on me. Don't beat yourself up over any of this," he said, feeling the warmth of Jamie's arms on his neck. "Jamie…"

"Yeah, Wheeljack?"

"Did Ratchet say when I could get up?"

"Jamie!" Ratchet's voice rang out, causing the human to jump.

"Qué pasa?" she asked as she shot up.

"TURN THAT FRAGGING MUSIC OFF!" he shouted. Jamie smirked before shouting back.

"I'LL TURN IT OFF WHEN YOU STOP BEING A FRAGGING CRAB ALL THE TIME! WHEELJACK'S AWAKE, IN CASE YOU CARE!" she retaliated as she laughed with Wheeljack. Wheeljack just smiled, Miko's words flowing through his processor again.

'_If you're staying, you're gonna need your own human.' Miko… I think I've found one._


	13. Chapter 13

Annnnnd... thats where I leave you! I know, I know: you want more of ol' Human Companionship. Well, I felt it necessary to stop where I did just because it felt like a good stopping point. But, there is a sequel! *insert fans screaming* Titanium! You should read it... *hint, hint*


End file.
